SEs usher in new Samvat with 37-pts rally

The Indian bourses heralded into Vikram Samvat 2059 riding on a strong wave of optimism. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) drove the market up w...

The Indian bourses heralded into Vikram Samvat 2059 riding on a strong wave of optimism. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) drove the market up with the positive news of a big gas find while the BSE Sensex closed 37-point higher during the Mahurat trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today. Software major Infosys Technologies was another big gainer.

“We are hoping that in the days to come the market will shoot up riding on couple of good news we have received recently,” said Venkat Aiyar, a Mumbai-based BSE dealer. The opening of the Muhurat trade on a cheerful note might have some what lightened up investors hope and expect that the worst has been left behind in Samvat 2058.

Citing the RIL’s gas discovery as one of the major developments not only for the company but also for the market, brokers said investors as well as foreign funds seemed to have turned optimistic in view of favourable recommendations by the Kelkar Task force on tax reforms on Saturday. The tax reforms are expected to give a bonanza of Rs 7,000 crore to the corporate sector – giving a big boost to market sentiments.

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The Kelkar panel has recommended one-stroke cleaning up of all income-tax exemptions, significant reduction in tax rates and sweeping liberalisation of procedures. Besides, a favorable credit policy cutting interest rates also helped the markets to turn cheerful. Investors also seemed to be hopeful that the government would soon clear the divestments of the strategic oil sector.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened on a strong footing at 2986.54 and moved upwards to the intra-day high at 2994.80 before ending at 2987.58 as agaist last Friday’s close of 2950.58, netting a rise of 37 points or 1.25 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 index rose by 17.14 points to 1479.41 from previous close of 1462.27. NSE benchmark Nifty has gone up by 12 point.

Dealers from a local brokerage said the market witnessed huge buying support in index scrips. “The trend for the near term looks bullish due to the rally on the Reliance Industries counter as well as favourable developments like the second quarter results posted by most of the corporates, that have mostly above market expectations,” said an analyst. In the specified group, 139 including 29 index-based counters registered sharp to moderate rises while 22 others closed with losses.

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The volume of business was Rs 457.58 crore with RIL clocking the highest turnover of Rs 91.06 crore followed by Satyam Computer (Rs 90.04 crore), Infosys Tech (Rs 56.70 crore), Mastek (Rs 20.49 crore) and Digital Global (Rs 19.82 crore).

RIL advanced by 6.40 to 263.50, Satyam Computers by 5.35 to 241.50, Infosys Tech by 59.25 to 3931.15, Bajaj Auto by 5.95 to 448.25, BHEL by 2.80 to 148.35 and Cipla by 11.60 to 874.45.

However, HPCL eased by 2.60 to 222.45, Hinduja TMT by5.95 to 262.65, Moser Baer by 4.40 to 159.85 and CMC by 4.60 to 397.80.